Cursed Technique: Ruin Spikes
Summary-
Ruin Spikes is a technique based on Nergigante from the Monster Hunter series. It blends his unique tendency to hunt the other Elder Dragons with his signature spikes. Ruin Spikes works by punishing the powerful, turning their strength into fuel for the user of this technique.
Lapse-
Ruin Spikes requires a continuous input of cursed energy. The cost of this cursed energy increases with each stage of the technique(more on this later), but generally, it is feasible for a Grade 1 sorcerer to hold this technique over the course of a 1v1 fight scenario.
The strategy of Ruin Spikes is to punish the strong, feeding off their power. The user may activate Ruin Spikes when they are hit by an attack that uses an amount of cursed energy(CE) above the "activation threshold.” This attack can come in any form, so long as it is a) a hostile action and b) imbued with the CE of an opponent. The activation threshold can be best explained as the amount of CE that would cause noticeable damage to the user. Immediately, the user of this technique recognizes the one who made this attack as their prey, the “target” of their technique. From this point on, every attack that the target makes against the user of Ruin Spikes will “feed” the technique. The CE of other opponents cannot be used to feed Ruin Spikes once it has been activated.
For every attack after the activation of Ruin Spikes, 10% of the cursed energy(up to a maximum, more on this later) that the target uses in the attack is absorbed by Ruin Spikes. This CE is used to feed the growth of spikes from the user’s bones. These spikes appear on their back, arms, legs, hands, feet, and on the top of their head. The physical appearance of the spikes changes on different parts of the body, with smaller spikes, a few inches in length, appearing on the hands and feet, while the largest spikes, 2-3 feet in length, appear on the user’s back. Only two spikes appear on their head, large and horn-like. As mentioned before, the total amount of CE absorbed by Ruin Spikes from a single attack has a maximum limit. Anything absorbed beyond this limit will cause damage to the spikes. If this limit is surpassed in large quantities, it will cause the spikes to break off, halting the technique. This limit increases with each stage of the technique, up to the final stage, where all CE absorption stops.
As previously mentioned, this technique has three stages. The spikes increase in size throughout each stage, and each stage grants new benefits to the user, but increases the cost of CE needed to maintain the technique. The stages are as follows, in order:
Marrow: As the first stage of Ruin Spikes begins, the user’s internal bone begins to soften in preparation to create the spikes. The spikes begin forming as spongy bone, which pierces through the skin of the user. As the spikes continue to grow, the speed of the user increases, reaching its peak(150%) at the end of the marrow stage. This stage is particularly vulnerable, as the cursed energy absorption limit of marrow is very low, and any over-absorption damage extends into the user’s bones.
Bone: After all the spikes have completed the marrow stage, hardened black bone grows around the marrow. At this stage, the spikes begin to automatically use the cursed energy they have stored to protect against attacks. This increases the user’s defensive capabilities as with the marrow stage(150%); however, if the spikes use more CE to defend than is being absorbed from attacks, they begin to degrade. This leads to the spikes cracking and becoming brittle; any damage taken while they are brittle extends into the localized area of the user’s internal skeleton.
Metal: As the final stage of Ruin Spikes begins, a metallic coating begins to grow over the spikes and embed itself in the user’s skeleton. This metallic coat creates several sharp edges and a single point at the end of each spike. During this stage, the user’s offensive capabilities are doubled, but the risk of damaging their spikes increases. For each attack they make using cursed energy above a high threshold, an equal amount of their target’s cursed energy from their spikes is “queued” to create a delayed impact after the initial strike. As with the prior stage, using more stored CE to attack and/or defend than the spikes absorb causes them to degrade. When this stage is in full effect, the user of Ruin Spikes loses all sense of pain; any pain felt after this point is delayed until deactivation of the technique. The user also experiences a sort of tunnel vision; it becomes very difficult to focus on anything other than the destruction of their target. They ignore other opponents, honing in on their target.
Deactivation of this technique occurs in one of two ways: 1) The user slowly decreases the amount of cursed energy they input into the technique until they reach zero. This allows their body to heal as the spikes detach, decompose, and fall off. 2) The user runs out of CE, suddenly halting the technique, causing the spikes to begin cracking and detaching, leaving severe damage to the user.
Extension: Volley
As an extension of Ruin Spikes, the user may use their cursed energy to push against the target’s CE held within their spikes. This breaks off the spikes and expels them at rapid speeds. This is not a precise extension; the user cannot expel only a few spikes at a time; it’s all or nothing. The user has no control over the movement of the spikes after they are expelled from their body; they follow their trajectory and decompose after stopping. Volley acts as a third method of deactivation for this technique, allowing the user to choose a new target.
Domain Expansion: Graveyard of Titans
This domain appears as a boneyard. Skeletons of incredible size populate the area, all of which have unique shapes, like the great dragons of old. The floor beneath is made of black stone, and the arena is surrounded by black stone pillars. Sharp crystals grow along these pillars, and a few particularly large crystals jut out from the floor. The sky holds the many hues of evening, as the sun seems to set beyond the arena.
Sure-Hit Effect: While within this domain, the user can choose to punish any hostile action taken by an opponent with a spike shooting up from the floor of the domain to impale the opponent. The power of the spike relates to the amount of power in the action. Tapping the user would be met with a small spike poking the opponent’s hand, while a lethal attack would be met by a massive spike impaling the opponent’s chest. These spikes have a fixed CE cost, no matter their size.
Binding Vow: Titan Slayer
Under this binding vow, the user of this technique may only absorb cursed energy from an opponent who is stronger than themself; however, the percentage of CE they absorb from each attack, as well as the maximum limit, is doubled.